Over the past few years nearly 4 billon trips have been made, on average, in the United States. Of these trips, about 37% was travel for visiting friends/relatives, outdoor recreation, entertainment/sightseeing, or other pleasure/personal reasons. About 13% was travel for business; either general reasons (e.g., consulting, service) or to attend a convention/conference/seminar or for combined business and pleasure purposes.
Everyone is familiar with the hassles of travel. Itineraries must be developed, reservations must be made and contingencies must be planned. But perhaps the biggest source of frustration is that of packing. Not only must clothing be carefully chosen and folded, but upon arrival at your destination, everything must be removed from the suitcase and hung upon hangers. A hotel room will typically provide a small quantity of hangers in which guests can hang all of their clothing. Depending on the length of the stay and the number of individuals in the party, the clothes may be hung for an extended period of time and perhaps for more than one person. Obviously such a quantity is inadequate for any serious type of use. This forces the traveler to double-hang items, or perhaps leave some clothing articles in the suitcase where they will become creased and wrinkled. While a traveler can pack additional hangers in their suitcase before leaving for their destination, typical hangers are large, bulky and unwieldy. They take up an inordinate amount of space in the suitcase and thus limit what additional items the traveler can bring.
No traveler wants to spend time pressing clothes when they should be relaxing, taking in the sights or attending meetings. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which travelers can keep their clothing from becoming wrinkled during travel while being assured an adequate supply of hangers once they arrive at their destination without the disadvantages mentioned above. The development of the present invention for will serve to alleviate these concerns.
The present invention describes a device and method to conveniently hang clothing while traveling. Hotel rooms typically provide a small quantity of hangers, usually of an inadequate quantity for hanging clothing. This may cause the traveler to double hang items, or perhaps leave some clothing articles in the suitcase where they will become creased and wrinkled. Packing additional hangers in a suitcase is impractical due to the large size, bulkiness and unwieldy nature of the hangers. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which travelers can be provided with an adequate supply of hangers at temporary destinations without the disadvantages as mentioned above. The development of the invention herein described fulfills this need.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,185,795 issued to Wallick discloses a collapsible hanger for suspending clothes and other items. This patent does not appear to disclose a collapsible hanger that collapses in a manner similar to the described invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,538 issued to Autry and Autry discloses an adjustable clothes hanger. This patent does not appear to disclose a collapsible hanger for traveling.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,121 issued to Harvey discloses a collapsible garment hanger. This patent does not appear to disclose a hanger capable of carrying garments such as trousers, nor does it appear to be collapsible in a manner similar to the described invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,882 issued to Harvey discloses a collapsible garment hanger. This patent does not appear to disclose a hanger capable of carrying garments such as trousers, nor does it appear to be collapsible in a manner similar to the described invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,493 issued to Noiray discloses a foldable clothes hanger. This patent does not appear to disclose a collapsible hanger that collapses in a manner similar to the described invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,399 issued to Pryor discloses a hanger assembly. This patent does not appear to disclose a collapsible travel hanger capable of maintaining and holding garments.
The prior art appears to disclose travel hangers that collapse in a vertical manner and mainly hold shirts and similar garments. The prior art does not appear to disclose a collapsible travel hanger that collapses in a horizontal manner, that maintains multiple pieces of wearing apparel in a neat fashion.